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Wash your hands!

Okay, okay, okay. I know. This is something that we all do, or are supposed to, before we sit down, anyway. But when our elders told us to wash our hands, it represented more than just cleanliness. To take the time to wash one's hands, and even one's face, before sitting down meant that we have respect for the meal for its preparer and for the things that we receive. In short, getting prepared to sit down to eat meant that we took the meal seriously.

Commercial ads in the media lead us to believe that eating is something that we just do all day long we eat our three squares, snacks in between, and then snacks between the snacks. We are shown eating at a table in the park in the office and in The Great Outdoors. And in virtually none of these situations, do we see anybody truly prepared to take a meal seriously.

Anytime we put food in our mouths, we should be taking this seriously. And that means getting each meal, each snack, and each bite some thought. The exhortation to wash our hands was just another part of our elders old wisdom telling us to take things like eating seriously and to treat them mindfully.

Go wash your hands and face, sit down to eat, and eat mindfully.

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